Warning on Nepal child victims

[Ulhas Joglekar <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxx>]

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 February 2006

Warning on Nepal child victims
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4758556.stm

By Sushil Sharma
BBC News, Kathmandu

[Children have been recruited as child soldiers by the rebels]

At least 434 children have been killed in Nepal and over 8,000 orphaned in
the long running Maoist insurgency, says a leading child rights group.

A report by the Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN) said over
40,000 children have been displaced.

Nearly 13,000 people have been killed since the Maoist campaign to overthrow
the monarchy began in 1996.

There has been persistent national and international pressure on the rebels
and the army to spare children.

Child soldiers

Despite pressure on warring sides, the number of child victims has
increased, the report said.

[The army has used children as informers and porters]

The CWIN report accuses the rebels of recruiting children as combatants.
Government troops have also been blamed by CWIN report for using children as
informers and porters.

Both sides deny the allegations.

The CWIN activists say many children have also died while playing with
bombs, which they mistake for toys, left unattended by the warring sides.

They say the worst year was 2002 when nearly 150 children died.